What I Watched -- Julie & Julia

Anyone who has ever tried cooking something that they're not sure they can quite pull off can relate to the cooking adventures of Julie Powell. She lives in modern Queens, and is stuck in a rut. She needs a project, and settles on this: working her way through all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 365 days. Julie's culinary adventures give her the focus she was looking for, but it's not always smooth sailing -- neither in the kitchen of her tiny apartment, nor in her marriage.

The parallel story is that of the woman herself, Julia Child. Meryl Streep got a Best Actress nod this year for her portrayal of the American in Paris, who ventures into the world of cooking mostly for lack of anything else to do in her new city. She discovers that she has quite a talent for cooking, and also makes wonderful friends that way.

The movie doesn't have quite the level of food photography found in something like, say, Tortilla Soup. But there are lots of tidbits given verbally; for example, you have to pat meat dry if you want it to brown properly. You learn the first steps to boning a duck (in case that's something you ever want to do). You learn how to cook live lobster, or how to kill them first if you don't want to cook them live. Lots of fun, if you're into that sort of thing.

It's a cute movie -- not too serious, fairly predictable, but entertaining. Meryl Streep is great as Julia; Amy Adams is adorable as always.